


Unexpected Joys

by orphan_account



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Good god I can't write smut... Someone stop me before I try, I'm actually gonna try to go M in this so stay tuned for a spectacular failure, It's gonna be fun kiddos, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:36:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt (summary): An 18 year old Kara finds herself involved in a one night stand with an older woman. Two months later, said woman finds herself impregnated, despite all logic. Ten years later, Kara interviews at CatCo and is shocked to see the boy sitting in his mother's office and looks so much like a younger version of herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the lovely anon who sent me the prompt for this. Good lord, it took me too long to get to. I'll make it up by having it be two (probably three) chapters long.

Gentle sunlight flooded through a cracked window, casting a gentle glow on the contents of the room. Mind still hazy, but in a pleasant sort of way, Cat yawned as the sun’s warmth tickled her out of sleep, stretching away the remnants of exhaustion. She was careful not to disturb the sleeping form beside her, though from the light snores, she would not have managed to wake the girl easily.

A small part of Cat screamed at her to leave, but she couldn’t tear herself away from the sight. _Kara_ , Cat repeated the girl’s name in her mind, not bothering to fight the smile on her face. After all, during the previous night, Cat’s lips had been buried between Kara’s thighs — a smile would be far less compromising.

Not for the first time, Cat idly wondered how old the girl was. She was not brave enough to ask, for fear of the spiraling pit of self pity that might follow. Worse yet, Cat could find herself under threat of legal action.

 _Good god_ , Cat chastised herself, though still trailing Kara’s shoulder blade with the tips of her fingertips. Only a few hours ago, she had spotted the young woman at an art gallery and, with great apprehension, approached her. Cat had been slightly tipsy, perhaps, when she finally struck up a conversation with the young woman. It was a celebration of Cat’s successful first quarter at CatCo, even if she was stuck at an event that she did not truly want to attend. The formal celebration would come a week later, but being unable to tear her eyes from the lithe figure, Cat had decided to have an early celebration all on her own.

Cat still was not sure how she’d managed to get Kara home with her — what the girl saw in Cat was beyond her, but Cat was never one to throw away an opportunity when it presented itself. So she’d dragged Kara into her private car and then later into her bed.

Without a doubt, there were still welts decorating her back from where Kara’s nails had dug in a bit too sharply, although Cat couldn’t complain. Not with the moans she drew from the girl, nor with the gasps of pleasure that had been torn from her own throat.

Cat laughed quietly at the soreness between her legs and the memory of Kara’s tongue against her skin. A small part of Cat urged her to leave, but neither she nor Kara had been drunk, so she couldn’t just pretend it was some illy thought out fling, and it was her apartment. Cat smiled lazily at the ceiling before pulling back from Kara and rolling out of bed. It would be easier to think with coffee in her system.

Pulling on her robe, Cat stalked into her kitchen with one last glance at the sleeping figure in her bed. After starting a pot, Cat leaned up against her island and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the coffee hitting the metal container. While standing, she found her body even sorer than it had been on the mattress.

She wondered whether or not she should make any food for her late night visitor, but then again, she wasn’t sure she had the energy to muster anything up. Even if she did, Cat worried she might make the wrong impression. As much as she’d enjoyed her night with Kara, the girl was so young and Cat was too busy to pursue anything more serious.

A creak from behind her caused Cat to flutter her eyes open and turn around. Kara was standing there, eyes and smile shy, wrapped in a bed sheet. Cat smiled back at her, eyes flickering down in appreciation at the poorly covered body.

“Good morning,” Cat said softly.

Kara’s smile widened slightly as she crept a bit closer to Cat’s side. “Morning.”

“Can I get you anything?” Cat asked. If she had any less self control, she might have pulled Kara back into her bedroom and kept her there for the rest of the morning. “I have coffee brewing.”

“That sounds good,” Kara murmured.

Cat did not try to fill the silence as she reached for two mugs from the cabinet and placed them on the counter. She could almost feel Kara’s awkwardness at the whole situation, but Cat didn’t have much to offer that would erase the feeling. She had never been any good at morning afters.

When the light on the pot flicked off, indicating the pot was finished, Cat poured both of them a mug. She watched with curious eyes as Kara wrapped her lips around the ceramic and finished the hot liquid. Kara’s gaze flickered between Cat and the oven’s clock.

“Do you have somewhere to be?” Cat finally asked, trying to keep a teasing lightness in her voice.

Kara nodded her head bashfully. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Cat said with a wave of the hand. “Let me drive you. Where do you need to go.”

She shouldn’t have offered, but Cat wanted even a moment longer in Kara’s innocent-like presence and, in truth, a large part of her felt responsible for Kara’s well being. After all, she was the one who had whisked the girl out of the gallery last night.

“Oh, I can get a cab,” Kara insisted, but her protests died as Cat took another step closer.

“Let me,” Cat whispered hotly in Kara’s ear. God, it would be so easy to bury her fingers once more between Kara’s legs. “I insist.”

“T-thank you,” Kara stuttered. “I’ll, um, get dressed.”

Cat forced herself not to follow Kara back into the bedroom, knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to resist her more carnal instincts. Instead, she waited patiently for the girl to reemerge, sipping on her coffee and going through her emails to make sure no disasters had arisen.

When Kara reappeared a short while later, Cat pulled on clothes of her own before taking the elevator down to her car. The stadium Kara’d directed her towards was only a few minutes away, so Cat did not bother with much small talk, but the entire drive, she kept glancing at Kara.

Cat didn’t bother to ask why Kara needed to be at National City’s basketball stadium so early in the morning, but as the car slowed to a halt, Cat did muster up enough bravery to place a soft, lingering kiss on Kara’s lips.

“I had a wonderful time,” Cat whispered earnestly.

“So did I,” Kara’s voice was low and stunned at the kiss.

Cat didn’t watch as Kara walked up towards the building, instead returning to her apartment and the active drum of her life.

* * *

“Pregnant?” Cat repeated, staring at the gynecologist incredulously. “I can’t be pregnant.”

 _“I understand this is a surprise, Miss Grant, but we ran the tests twice.”_ It was not the first time that the doctor had repeated this information to her through the phone, although it sounded no less strange to Cat’s ears. Pregnancy, of course, was not the sort of thing that Cat had been planning for. She was running a media conglomerate, not a daycare. But still, that wasn’t the issue.

Cat was not expecting a pregnancy, not only because of her intense work schedule, but because she hadn’t slept with a man in nearly a year. The last person to share her bed had been most definitely female and even if Cat had her suspicions there, she could no longer remember the girl’s name and was relatively certain she’d never learned the surname, so tracking down the girl wasn’t going to happen.

“You don’t understand, I can’t be pregnant,” Cat repeated darkly. “How can I be pregnant? I haven’t—”

She trailed off, realizing how ridiculous she would sound if she attempted to justify her disbelief. The doctor was already looking at her with a frustrated, yet polite expression.

 _“There are options if you don’t want the child,”_ the doctor explained slowly, but Cat was quick to cut her off.

“Is there anything else?”

 _“Excuse me?”_ The doctor sounded a bit taken aback by Cat’s sudden clipped tone.

“I have a job I need to get back to,” Cat explained shortly. “And I am not going to be able to make a decision about this until the shock of this has worn off, so if you don’t mind, I am going to get back to you on all of this.”

She barely waited for the doctor’s response before hanging up the phone and throwing it across the room. Fortunately, it landed on one of her couches, although her outburst did attract the attention of a few employees. Cat didn’t even have the presence of mind to tell them off.

“Shit.”

* * *

For the better part of ten years, Kara had spent her life darting from one city to another. She transferred halfway through college and immediately afterwards, spent six years traveling the globe, writing for various publications as a freelance journalist. For the longest time, she thought she’d succeeded in getting out of town. There was nothing, she thought, absolutely nothing that would drag her back to California.

Until one day, she was struggling to find work while maintaining her carefree lifestyle at the same time. Eventually, Alex convinced her to stay with her for a few weekends and with the added pressure of Eliza’s reminder that she was twenty-eight, Kara moved in full time with Alex. Being roommates with her was the one good thing about the whole arrangement.

Alex was also the one to pressure her into arranging an interview at CatCo, hoping that it might lead to a more stable career. It had taken over a week of convincing, but Kara found herself on the elevator up towards Cat Grant’s office.

The building was nice at least — not quite as depressing of a layout as some of the other buildings she’d been inside. Kara realized she shouldn’t expect anything less than gorgeous from someone with such a sterling reputation as Cat Grant. Though she’d never been hired by CatCo, everyone in journalism knew of Cat Grant’s desire for perfection.

“I’m never getting this job,” Kara muttered under her breath as she approached the assistant’s desk. She pulled on a bright smile anyways and waved at the young man behind the desk. “Hi, I’m here to see Miss Grant. Kara Danvers.”

The assistant clicked away at his computer for a few moments. “Go on in, Miss Danvers. Miss Grant is expecting you.”

Kara looked in through the glass walls, looking at the small woman with short blonde curls, head buried in a mess of paper. That, Kara realized, was possibly the most powerful woman on the west coast, and definitely in National City. And Kara needed to convince her to to give her a job.

Her hand was shaking as she opened the door, despite the confidence she attempted to muster. Even when the door swung open, Cat’s head did not pop up.

“Carter, darling, why don’t you go wait out with Brad?”

It took Kara a moment to realize that she wasn’t talking to her and instead, a little boy, around ten years old, sitting on one of the couches in the office. Kara wouldn’t have thought much of it if she hadn’t turned to properly look at him — she almost dropped her jaw. The boy had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. With the glasses perched on his nose, Kara swore that he looked like a younger version of herself.

“His name’s Bret,” Carter muttered, but he collected his things and walked past Kara into the bullpen. The little smile that he offered reminded her of when she’d first arrived in the Danvers’ household and was still too shy to talk to anyone.

“Sit.”

Kara blinked several times after Carter left the room, barely even registering the command. “Is, um, that your son?” Kara managed to ask as she took a seat.

“Yes,” Cat said shortly, picking up one of the papers on her desk and looking it over critically. “So, Danvers. Quite the resume.”

Part of Kara wanted to dart out of the door and snap a photo of the kid, but the rest of her, the part that sounded like Alex’s voice, reminded her that she needed this job. Chasing after her younger, male doppelgänger was not a responsible choice.

“I’d like to think so,” Kara half-laughed, her mind still distracted.

“Tell me, why does a freelance journalist such as yourself suddenly want a desk job?” Cat drawled. “I can’t imagine this will be particularly interesting to someone like you.”

“I’m looking for something more stable,” Kara explained. “I have family in the area.”

Turning her attention to the media mogul, Kara thought that she, too, looked overly familiar, but Kara couldn’t quite place the face. But she was gorgeous, Kara thought. Absolutely gorgeous.

“Well, Danvers, I’ll be frank. I’ve read your work before and I’m interested in what you have to offer.” Cat leaned back in her chair and took off her reading glasses. “And while I would love to pretend I’m more hesitant about hiring you, I need to take my son to his piano lesson. So, why don’t we do a trial period?”

“Y-yes.” Kara was taken aback. She’d never had such a short meeting. “Yes, thank you.”

“Good.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness gracious there were so many opinions on them not being able to remember each other. Now I'm curious how many people can remember their one night stands' faces 10 years after the fact.

“You don't get it, he looked just like me,” Kara insisted to a disbelieving Alex. After her little interview with Cat Grant, she’d attempted to find the boy again, but she didn’t get more than a brief glimpse as he stepped onto his mother’s private elevator. “Like, _just_ like me.”

“He’s a he, Kara,” Alex reminded her with a grin. “And Cat Grant has blonde hair — he probably has her looks and you’re just being narcissistic.”

“I am not!” Kara protested. She flopped down on the couch beside Alex and shoved another slice of pizza down her throat. “I know how this sounds, but I swear to Rao, I’m not exaggerating.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t protest the point anymore without evidence. “Do you want to see if there’s a photo online of him?”

“Why would there be a photo?”

“Because he’s the son of Cat Grant,” Alex explained, already pulling out her phone and searching for a photo of Carter. Kara, slightly uneasy at the thought of internet stalking the boy, pressed up against Alex’s side and peered over her shoulder. There was a photo of him by Cat’s side at some sort of press event, from a little over a year ago, showing off the features Kara had been trying to explain. “Oh, shit.”

“See?” Kara exclaimed, hitting Alex’s shoulder dramatically. “He looks just like me.”

Alex stayed quiet as she zoomed in on the photo of Carter, carefully analyzing the shape of his eyes and curve of his lips. Kara looked, too, biting her bottom lip with worry as she tried to figure out how it was possible to have such a younger doppelgänger on a planet whose inhabitants she shouldn’t share any DNA with.

“This is weird, Kara,” Alex said slowly. “He looks just like you when you first got here.”

“I know!”

* * *

 

“No, Kara, this is really weird,” Alex repeated. She looked genuinely distressed at Carter’s existence. “How is this possible?”

Kara shrugged lamely as she took the phone from Alex and continued to scroll through the photos, stopping every now and then on a particularly catching photo of Cat Grant. God, she was attractive, Kara thought. Those striking green eyes had an effect on her that she’d never admit aloud, especially to Alex. There were only a few photos of Cat and Carter on the web, most in the more recent years, but as Kara searched through the archive, she came across an old tabloid photo of Carter when he was first born, wrapped in Cat’s arms. Her hair was longer and styled differently and she was wearing different clothing, less formal.

A Kryptonian curse slipped from Kara’s lips as she put two and two together.

“What?” Alex demanded. “Kara, what?”

Kara dropped the phone on table and buried her head in her hands, trying to think back and ensure she was right. “You remember the night before my high school graduation?”

“You ditched me at the art gallery I spent all that money on and I had to bring you all of your stuff the next morning,” Alex said dryly, then her eyes went wide. “You didn’t.”

Kara groaned. “It was before we figured out the whole Krypton DNA thing.”

“That damn mutation,” Alex hissed under her breath.

The Codex had, on occasion, produced a slight genetic abnormality its children. Neither Zor-El nor Alura had explained it properly to Kara, as it was considered unimportant in Kryptonian culture and rarely had an effect on any citizen’s life. Males were unaffected by the mutation, but it provided an alternate reproduction method for the females born with them.

Jeremiah was the one who wanted to study it, but it had been Alex who eventually figured out what it meant in human terms. Impregnation was highly unlikely, but she did produce a certain amount of spermatozoa. Kara couldn’t remember half of what Alex had explained, but it was something about a different XXYY expression than what was found in humans. The main point of their conversation had been that while getting a girl pregnant wasn’t likely, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, that conversation hadn’t happened until she was twenty.

“Did you seriously go home with Cat Grant when you were eighteen?” Alex looked both impressed and disappointed, though Kara wasn’t sure which she agreed with more.

“I think?” Kara bit her bottom lip as she tried to remember that night.

Alex sighed and pushed Kara off the couch. Kara pouted up at her from the floor, but Alex dismissed her with a dramatic roll of the eyes. “Well, even if you _did_ sleep with her, that doesn’t mean he’s yours.”

“Alex, look at him!” Kara nearly shouted, waving at the phone on the table. “He looks just like me!”

“Are you sure you slept with her?” Alex insisted.

Kara thought back to the green eyes and even if she couldn’t remember everything that had happened, after seeing the photo of a young Cat, she could finally place them. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Did she recognize you?”

“I don’t think so,” Kara muttered. “I’m positive she didn’t, she would have said something, right?”

Alex ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. “I don’t know, Kara. But if that kid is yours, if he has any of your abilities, we need to figure it out.”

“I know,” Kara groaned. “I know.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Alex laughed as she picked up her phone and flipped through a few more photos. “I gotta say, if this kid _is_ yours, you did well. He’s adorable.”

“Can we not say he’s mine until we’re sure?” Kara muttered. “How are we even supposed to find out? Do we get a DNA test, do I have to steal a strand of this kid’s hair? Do I just come out and say, ‘Hey, Cat, I was that kid you banged ten years ago?’”

Alex scrunched her nose at the last question. “We’ll figure something out, but don’t do anything stupid, okay? If you start acting suspicious not only will we never know whether or not you’re the other mother, but you’ll also lose a job.”

“Glad to know you’ve got your priorities straight,” Kara murmured under her breath. Alex shot her a glare, which Kara shrugged weakly at.

Alex got up from her spot on the couch to join Kara on the floor, wrapping an arm around Kara’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “It’s going to be okay. We just need to come up with a plan.”

Plans had never been Kara’s speciality, so she just leaned further into Alex’s side and waited for her to come up with one, instead. Every plan Kara concocted was either left half-completed and abandoned to time or failed spectacularly, and it typically took Eliza’s or Alex’s interference to get her back on track.

“The hair idea wasn’t bad,” Alex suggested softly. Kara played with the flap of Alex’s leather jacket as she shook her head.

“I don’t even know how often he’s in the office,” Kara sighed. “And I don’t want to steal a kid’s hair.”

Alex could’t stop her little smirk. Of course Kara, with her innocent ways, wouldn’t want to take the boy’s hair, even if it was to determine whether or not they were biologically related. “Spit test?”

“Stop it,” Kara said, but she laughed a little in response. Kara took the phone from Alex’s hands and looked at the photo of the bright eyed little boy again. “He is really cute, isn’t he?”

“So cute,” Alex agreed. “Just like his possible mother.”

If Kara thought that she would’ve been able to keep control of her super strength, she would have slapped Alex, but she wasn’t so sure of her abilities at the moment. “Shut up.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call Cat Grant cute,” Alex teased. “Hot, yes. Beautiful, yes. But not cute.”

Kara thought back to morning after her one night stand and the sight of Cat wrapped in her robe, sipping coffee and smiling bashfully. Her hair had been longer and her clothes more casual, but cute had definitely applied then.

“Oh my god, I’m going to work for her,” Kara moaned. “Maybe I should just try and talk to her?”

“Kara—”

“I know, don’t ruin everything, but I don’t think I can work under her and not address it.” Alex was looking at her incredulously, but she didn’t try to interrupt. “And maybe if I talk with her about everything, then she’ll open up about Carter’s father and if there is one in the picture?”

Alex rested her head against Kara’s. “You stupid alien.”

* * *

 

Kara had spent the better part of the day trying to catch Cat Grant’s eye, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen, given her busy schedule. She’d finished her work over an hour ago, but it was nearing seven o’clock and Cat was still in the building, along with a handful of others. She’d decided to help out an editor instead of going home, in the hopes that she might catch a moment alone with her boss. However to stay in her office would mean being out of Cat’s line of sight, so she set up camp in the mostly empty bullpen.

Her plan to catch Cat, though, was temporarily forgotten as she buried her head in an article on the upcoming election, silently cursing the person who wrote it. “This poll is seven weeks out of date,” she muttered under her breath as she marked the paper with red.

“Working hard, aren’t we?”

Kara jumped up at the sound of her boss’s voice, hitting her head against the desk light. She cursed quietly and bit down on her bottom lip in embarrassment. “Hi, Miss Grant.”

“Are you alright?” There was only the slightest hint of worry in Cat’s voice, to the point where Kara wasn’t sure she actually heard it. Perhaps she was just projecting. “That looked like it hurt.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kara lied. “Can I help you?”

Cat looked her up and down, eyes critical, but not entirely unkind. Kara wondered if maybe she was just mixing up faces after all, and that it had been some other blonde who she’d shared a bed with all those years ago. But then Cat pursed her lips and Kara realized she definitely knew that cupid’s bow.

Alex had warned her to not push too quickly, but Kara had never been one for self restraint. She was almost bouncing in those few moments it took for Cat to speak.

“Is there a reason you are not utilizing the office I provided for you, or is this just a millennial whim?” Cat asked dryly.

Kara smiled weakly under the gaze. “It was a little to quiet in there so I thought I might come out… here.”

Cat’s eyes flickered down to the article. “I see. Don’t burn yourself out, Danvers.”

She turned on her heels to head out towards the private elevator and Kara almost let her go. She was terrified to say anything, to recognize the reality of her strange situation, but she managed to get out a single syllable.

“Hey!”

Cat turned back around, unimpressed at the term, but Kara couldn’t just leave the “hey” hanging in the air on its own. Fiddling with her glasses, she stood up from the chair and pulled on her bravest smile. “Can we talk? For a minute?”

With a tired sigh and a customary glance at the clock, Cat waved at her impatiently. “What is it?”

Kara had practiced how she was going to bring up the conversation with Cat a thousand times, but with those green eyes on her, she suddenly couldn’t remember what she was going to say. “I, um, I just wanted to say thank you. For the job and everything. I know I’m just here on a trial basis, but still.”

Cat raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Is that all?”

Kara groaned internally. _No_. “Yes.”

Cat looked Kara over twice before shaking her head softly and sighing just as gently. “Would you like to get a drink? There’s a bar downstairs and if these are the hours you pull on the first day, you deserve a reward.”

“Are you sure?” Kara asked instead of saying yes, which she desperately wanted to do. “Don’t you have a, um, kid? Or is he with his father tonight?”

“The father isn’t in the picture.” Well, that answered at least something. “And I can spare a half an hour to get to know my newest journalist.”

Kara was equal parts terrified and thrilled as she stuffed her work into her bag, then hovering awkwardly by the desk, unsure if she should take the public elevator down or join Cat. Her confusion must have been apparent as Cat sighed and motioned her closer. “You will not speak of this to anyone, but just this once, you can ride down with me.”

“Really?” Kara tried not to bite her bottom lip in nervousness.

“You need to be more decisive or this temporary arrangement won’t become permanent,” Cat drawled. The instant she finished speaking, Kara darted to her side.

“Thank you, Miss Grant.”

An awkward elevator ride down and twenty minutes of small talk later, Kara had yet to determine anything more about Carter. That being said, she did get to hear the story of Cat base jumping Kilimanjaro after having shared her own about skydiving in Greenland. Cat seemed to actually like her, which shouldn’t have surprised Kara seeing as how they’d once slept together, but Cat didn’t seem to remember that. Moreover, Cat was Cat Grant of CatCo and her boss, not some woman at an art gallery that happened to pick her out of the crowd.

“I should really get going soon,” Cat sighed with another glance at the time.

“Can I ask you a question first?” Kara dared to ask. “You don’t do this sort of think with all your employees, do you?”

Cat smirked and took another sip of her drink. “No, I don’t.”

“Why did you invite me then?” Kara managed. It came out as barely more than a squeak under Cat’s gaze.

Cat leaned back in her chair, her smirk intimidating and undeniably attractive, making Kara gulp. “You remind me of someone, but I can’t quite place my finger on who. I thought I might figure it out tonight.”

“Did you?”

“No,” Cat sighed.

Kara was not a subtle individual. When she tried to get information out of people, they could almost always see right through her, which was not a great trait in a journalist, but Kara managed anyhow. Leading people into coming to the conclusion she wanted was not Kara’s greatest skill and at a certain point she’d just given up, but in that moment, Kara had to try.

“You remind me of someone, too.” Cat raised an eyebrow in interest and already Kara was terrified she’d been caught with her little charade. “This woman at an art gallery I met when I was younger. It’s not important or anything, I just, yeah. I get the feeling.”

The widening of Cat’s eyes was exactly the sort of reaction Kara had been hoping for, though at the same time, she was terrified. Recognition dawned on Cat’s face, but Kara couldn’t quite tell whether or not it was a positive or negative thing.

“Kara.” She hadn’t said Kara’s first name once since the latter had arrived at CatCo, and hearing her say it sent a little flutter through Kara’s stomach. “Kara Danvers.”

“Miss Grant?”

“That was quite the gallery, wasn’t it?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: I know I'm moving fast with the plotline, but I kinda want to finish this one soon. And anything between this scene and the next would've just been filler, so... If I was good at this writing thing, I would've included the extra build up, but I didn't because I suck.

“What do you mean she ran away?” Alex asked. They were standing in the middle of the DEO’s headquarters, watching the monitors flicker across the monitors somewhat lazily. It was a relatively boring Sunday afternoon and Kara, bored, had donned her costume, only to sit besides Alex and try not to spill any of her hot dog on the fabric.

“I mean she figured out who I was and then said she had to leave and I didn’t hear from her again.” Kara was overly frustrated by the whole thing.

During their childhood, Alex has mastered the skill of the side eye, so most of its power was lost on Kara, but in that moment, she did shrink into her seat. “She figured it out all on her own? You didn’t have anything to do with that?”

“You said we should figure it out!” Kara protested.

“I said be smart about it,” Alex growled quietly.

Kara shrugged pathetically, crumpled up the foil her food had come in, and tossed it into the trash bin a few feet away. “So, changing subjects, are you sure Supergirl moving full time to National City isn’t going to raise any eyebrows?”

For the past five years, Kara had spent her life as Supergirl traveling around the world to wherever her journalistic endeavors took her. The international hero, she’d been dubbed, which had been a nice feeling, especially when compared with Kal-El, who spent the overwhelming majority of his time in Metropolis. Of course, with Alex in National City, statistically speaking, Supergirl had always been more likely to pop up in National City than anywhere else.

“We’ll keep finding international missions for you, don’t worry,” Alex reassured her. “But in the meantime, you want to help clear up a car crash?”

“Seriously?” Kara murmured, but she stood anyways and brushed the crumbs off her body. “Since when is National City so safe?”

“Since your personal life decided to be such a disaster,” Alex muttered, waving at Kara as she left the building. Once she was gone, she whispered lowly under her breath, hoping Kara would catch it before she took off, “Get it together.”

In the air, Kara wondered if it was worth staying in the city permanently. If Cat Grant fired her on Monday, which Kara was relatively certain she would, then she might go back to freelancing. But Eliza had been so happy to hear that she’d finally planted some roots and Alex was, in spite of her teasing, wonderful to live with. Besides, there was a little boy who Kara was almost certain was hers and even if she’d never be able to be a part of his life, Kara wanted to make sure he was safe, and what better way than to live in the same city?

_He might not even be mine,_ Kara thought desperately, but every time she thought of the little boy with bright blue eyes and shining blonde hair, it was so hard to dismiss. Still, she couldn’t think too long about the possibility or she’d start to panic. The idea of there being a half Kryptonian that she’d never get to know, never get to teach her culture to, broke her heart and she absolutely refused to dwell on it.

She touched down on the highway, forcing the thoughts from her mind, to survey the damage. There was a great deal of broken glass littering the ground and four cars were blocking traffic, but as Kara looked around, no one appeared to be seriously hurt. There were a few broken bones, but she didn’t have to worry about anyone bleeding out.

“Rao,” Kara whispered under her breath as she caught sight of Cat Grant standing on the side of the road. Of course, Cat had already seen her, as well, and it wasn’t as if she could just fly off in cowardice, so Kara hovered closer.

“Is everyone alright?” Kara asked as she approached Cat and the few others standing on the side of the road.

“My car isn’t,” Cat muttered angrily, but she pointed to a girl hunched over on the side of the road, breathing deeply. Two others were“Her asthma is acting up and there are a few broken bones, but you flying them to the hospital might not be the best idea.”

Ambulance sirens were drawing closer, so Kara merely nodded. Flying injured people to the hospital, except for when strictly necessary, had a tendency of backfiring. But before turning to go and check on the young, hyperventilating woman, Kara checked Cat over once more. “Are you alright?”

Cat knitted her eyebrows together in apparent confusion, but said nothing on the subject. “I’m fine.”

Kara nodded once and went to check on the woman. She spent two minutes rubbing circles on the girl’s back and trying to calm her down before the ambulances and police cars arrived to load away the injured.

“I’m fine!” Kara heard Cat protest as a paramedic tried to usher her towards one of the ambulances. “I am not going to the hospital, get your hands off me.”

Kara was in the middle of flying the last of the crumpled cars to the side of the road to help clear up the traffic when she heard the protests. Suppressing a smile, Kara floated down next to the struggling paramedic and Cat Grant, who was still arguing vehemently that she was fine.

“Can I be of any assistance?” Kara offered gently.

Cat scoffed. “This asinine fool is trying to force me to enter that filthy vehicle when I am perfectly fine.”

“Ma’am, you have no car,” the paramedic argued weakly. “We can’t just leave you here on the side of the road.”

“I can fly her home.”

Both Cat and the paramedic turned to look at her, stunned. “What?”

“If you don’t mind, Miss Grant. You can’t stay here on the side of the highway, but if you really refuse to go with them, then I can take you home.” Kara was absolutely making an excuse to spend a bit of time around the woman, but as Supergirl, she could at least do it without raising too much suspicion. Hopefully.

Cat clicked her tongue once before answering. “Fine.”

Kara let out a sigh of relief, but quickly covered it. “Just let me go check with the police that there’s nothing else they need.”

As Kara got the all clear from the police, she vaguely wondered if Alex’d known about Cat Grant’s presence at the wreck. Probably not, given her evident displeasure at Kara’s enthusiastic reveal of their history together. In fact, Alex would probably yell at her the moment Kara revealed that she’d flown Cat home, but Alex wasn’t there and Kara, though she’d never admit it, wanted to see Cat’s house. She wanted to see the place Carter lived and ensure, even though she already knew it to be true, that he was well taken care of.

“Ready?” Cat said lowly as Kara returned to her side. Kara nodded, hoping that her nervous swallow wasn’t audible. “Well, then, take me home, Supergirl.”

Kara’s breath hitched as she wrapped her arms around Cat and flew them up into the air, careful to not go too quickly, out of fear of frightening Cat. Much to her surprise, though, there were no sounds of distress or surprise, only arms which tightened around Kara’s neck.

“Which way?” Kara managed to ask, heart in throat at Cat’s closeness.

Kara couldn’t make eye contact as Cat directed her to her penthouse. “Go ahead and land on the balcony,” Cat instructed as they got closer, the only conversation in their brief flight having been Cat’s instructions and Kara’s murmured acknowledgments.

When Cat slipped from Kara’s arms, a part of the heroine did not want to let go, but she forced herself to take a step back. “Well, I’ll be going then.”

“Leaving so soon?” Cat’s tone was teasing, but Kara couldn’t help but feel as though she was walking into some sort of trap. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” _Wouldn’t Alex be proud?_

“Trust me, none of the questions I want to ask will end up in one of my news outlets. We can save that interview for another day.” Cat, despite her small stature, was increasingly intimidating as she approached Kara. “What I want to know is how you haven’t been caught yet.”

“Excuse me?” Kara stuttered.

“I didn't even intend to figure it out and yet,” Cat whispered harshly. “You do realize upon your little revelation three nights ago, I spent hours researching who you were, Kara Danvers. I know where you were every day for the past ten years. Every flight, every trip, I know it all. How has no one besides me put it together?”

“Miss Grant, I don’t know what—”

“Supergirl has always been renowned for her random appearances throughout the globe, but they weren’t so random, were they? When Kara Danvers was writing about the indigenous population in Greenland, Supergirl was spotted saving an oil tanker from exploding. When Kara Danvers was in the Savannah writing about elephants, Supergirl was stopping ivory hunters. I didn’t believe it at first, but nearly every place you’ve been, Kara Danvers has been at the same time.” Cat’s eyes were narrowed in determination and Kara could not tear herself away. “You look just like her. Jesus, how did I forget you?”

Kara gaped silently, unsure of what to say. It would be so easy to deny it, but if Cat knew, then perhaps the connection to Carter wouldn’t be such a strange thing to bring up. Alex would kill her, but that was hardly out of the ordinary, and Kara didn’t want to lie. But she was still struggling to understand how Cat had figured it out in seventy-six hours after having previously forgotten who she was.

“Miss Grant—”

“We’ve fucked before, I think you can call me Cat.”

Kara inhaled deeply. “Cat, then. I think…”

“Tell me, do your little powers extend to reproduction abnormalities?”

Kara could not answer. She stared back blankly at Cat, stunned and horrified at Cat’s accuracy thus far and even more horrified when tears formed in green eyes and threatened to spill down Cat’s cheeks.

“Or did I really just forget Carter’s father?” Cat gasped, a sob wrenching through her body. She stumbled against the bannister and Kara instinctually went to grab her, but Cat shoved her off. “Don’t. I have wondered for so long how the hell I could get pregnant. You or Kara or whoever the fuck that girl was — you were the only person to share my bed in months. There was no man. And who the hell was I supposed to tell?”

“I’m sorry,” Kara whispered, well aware of how weak her confession and apology sounded. “I didn’t know.”

Cat ran a hand through her hair and let out a barely audible laugh. “So that’s a yes then?”

Kara nodded, because what else was there left to do? “He’s mine?”

“Of course he’s yours,” Cat muttered. She furiously wiped away the tears. “I can’t believe I was right. I thought you’d deny it and I’d just make a fool out of myself.”

“I’m definitely the fool in this situation,” Kara said, more to herself than Cat. “So what do we do now?”

Cat wrung her hands together as she looked between Kara and the glass doors. “We need to talk about this, but not tonight. Carter’s nanny has already been here too long and I don’t want him seeing you.” Kara’s face fell at the statement, but Cat was quick to fix it. “Yet. Call in sick tomorrow. I don’t think I can see you without hitting you, even if you are indestructible. Come over tomorrow at nine and we will talk.”

“Okay,” Kara whispered. To say she had hope would be a slight exaggeration, but it was better than nothing. “Okay.”

“Good, now go,” Cat ordered, retreating back into her house.

Kara took off the moment she heard the door’s lock click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cat Grant is just really smart, okay? And let's assume going from Supergirl to citizen is a daunting task and pretty much impossible, but if you're stalking Kara Danvers, the connection between her and Supergirl might become apparent pretty quickly in a world where both travel a lot.
> 
> *I'm sorry. I know this isn't the best. But I'm trying to actually finish this*


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh goddamn it, this is going to be long. I couldn't end it. There's going to be at least two more chapters, probably more. I'm not going to bother with filler chapters, so three. I'm giving myself three chapters to wrap this up.

Standing on Cat’s doorstep, hand poised to knock, Kara suddenly wondered whether or not she should have brought wine or something as a peace offering. It was a ridiculous thought — Cat had been beyond furious when they’d last spoken and besides, the sort of wine Cat Grant drank would be too far out of her price range. Flowers would have been inappropriate, as would chocolates, but coming empty handed felt equally awful.

Kara was in the middle of debating whether or not she should use her super speed to grab something when the door swung open and Cat Grant, clad in a simple sweater and jeans, faced her with a dour expression.

“Stop pacing and come in,” Cat ordered. Kara swallowed deeply as she followed Cat into the penthouse.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring anything,” Kara forced herself to speak clearly, instead of mumbling in shame like she wanted to.

Cat shrugged impassively and ushered her towards the living room, where a half empty glass of scotch sat on the coffee table. Kara winced at the sight — Cat was not drunk, but Kara wondered if that was on the night’s agenda. Cat slunk towards the drink and brought it to her lips, quickly drowning the amber liquid in one smooth gulp, thus adding to Kara’s suspicions.

“Are you hungry?” Cat asked.

She looked so tired, Kara realized. Her eyes barely met Kara’s and her entire body leaned forward, as if it could not support its own weight. It might have been the casual clothes that threw Kara off, but there was a distinct air of exhaustion about the woman.

“I’m fine.” It was a half-lie, but Kara could not bring herself to ask for anything from Cat. Least of all to fulfill her endless appetite.

Cat flicked her wrist towards the couch, indicating for Kara to sit, while Cat herself took an expensive looking armchair. The crystal was temporarily abandoned on the coffee table.

“So tell me, Supergirl,” Cat breathed out her title as if it weighed heavy on her tongue. It was not quite venomous, but something else that Kara did not have a word for. “What do you want?”

“Want?” Kara repeated the word with no small amount of shock. “What do you mean?”

Cat laughed. It was a hollow, broken thing to hear. “If you demand Carter, know I will fight you. However impossible that may be, I won’t just give him up.”

“I would never,” Kara said gently. “He’s your son, Cat, I’m just…”

She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. She had not raised the boy, had not even known of his existence until recently. The only words she’d ever heard him utter were not directed towards her, nor had she struck up a conversation with him. All Kara had done was provide a bit of DNA, unknowingly at that.

“I won’t call you his other mother.” There was a defensive edge to Cat’s voice for which Kara could not begrudge her. It was followed by a soft sigh and another wisp of a laugh. “But you should know he adores you.”

Kara raised her head a bit at the thought of Carter knowing who she was. “I mean Supergirl, of course,” Cat continued. “You’re his biggest hero.”

“Not Superman?” Kara joked weakly instead of admitting to the butterflies in her stomach.

“No,” Cat said, eyes and voice stern. “Not Superman.”

They fell into a lapse of silence. Kara wrung her hands together nervously, her stomach churning, but there was nothing she could think to say. All of the talking points she’d practiced over the past twenty-four hours died in her throat under Cat’s weary gaze.

  
“Why are you here?” Cat asked finally.

“You asked me—”

“I don’t mean in my house, I mean in the city,” Cat interrupted quickly.

Kara’s hands could not stay still as she answered. “My sister lives here and I, well, my family wanted me to settle down, so I came to live with her.” If she wanted to have any hope of maintaining a relationship with Cat, Kara felt the need to be honest if vague. “I didn’t know about Carter.”

The suspicion in Cat’s eyes was diminishing by the minute. “And now that you know?”

Kara bit her bottom lip in hesitation. “I want him to be safe. And if you’d let me, I’d like to get to know him.”

Kara was unable to determine the flash of emotion that went through the green irises. “Do either you or Superman have any other children?”

“I really can’t tell you that,” Kara said slowly.

“Kara,” her name was all edges coming from Cat’s lips, “If there is another child with the same heritage as my son, I deserve to know.”

The logic was sound and there was little danger in admitting that neither she nor Kal-El had a child, so Kara shook her head. “There aren’t any other children. Do you have reason to suspect that Carter is… different?”

“He’s always been strong for his age and size,” Cat admitted, “But nothing beyond that.”

“I know this is a lot to ask, but would you be opposed to Carter seeing a doctor specializing in my physiology?” Kara was careful to keep her voice soft. “My sister could do it here even, or at a normal hospital. But if there’s something different about him, it would be safer to know.”

“So that the government can follow him his whole life?” Cat scoffed. “No, I don’t think so.”

“They won’t,” Kara promised. “Beyond the doctor who performs the test and the director of the program, no one else has to know. But if he does have any of my powers, Cat, he’s going to need help.”

“Your DNA didn’t even override my poor eyesight,” Cat muttered, but he nodded anyways. “Let me think about it. Please.”

Kara nodded. It was useless to push the issue further, given how thin of a line she was walking. So long as Cat seemed open to the possibility of having Carter analyzed by someone at the DEO, it was enough.

“I’ll sign something if you want,” Kara offered, even though the very thought broke her heart. “Giving up parental rights. Not that I have any now, just, I don’t know, to give you peace of mind. I won’t try to take him away.”

However minuscule it was, a smile did find its way onto Cat’s lips. “I’ll have one of my lawyers draw something up, though I’m not sure we’d ever be able to file it unless you actually tried to fight for him.”

“I get it,” Kara muttered.

Cat nodded curtly and picked up her phone to type something. “I’ll admit, I am not fully comfortable with you meeting Carter.”

Kara flinched violently, but forced herself not to protest anything. It was not her right to simply come into Carter’s life and demand a place in it, however much she wanted to.

“However,” Cat continued, eyeing Kara in a way that made her think that the flinch had been obvious, “Given everything, it seems cruel to try and keep you from his life. But I don’t want to tell him the truth of your relation to him. It is too much for a ten year old to deal with.”

“I agree.”

“So then, the question arises, what do tell him?” Cat said with a click of her tongue.

“We don’t have to decide right now,” Kara muttered quietly.

“No,” Cat sighed. “I suppose we don’t.”

Kara worried her bottom lip, daring to drop her eyes to Cat’s lips. It was only for the briefest of moments and she prayed that Cat hadn’t noticed, but she wondered how many others had kissed those lips throughout the years. How many men and women had gone through Cat’s and Carter’s lives, and whether any of them had stayed for a while.

“Can I ask how you are?” Kara found the courage to ask. “How you’ve been?”

Cat laughed at the question. “I just found out I delivered Supergirl’s only child and am still trying to run an international media company. How do you think I am?”

“Stressed?” Cat grunted, unamused, at Kara’s attempted jest. Kara took in a sharp breath and tried to shift the conversation towards more unfamiliar ground. “You know, I thought about you a lot, after that night.”

“Oh, fucking hell.” It certainly wasn’t the response Kara had been accepting, but it was the liveliest Kara had seen Cat during evening. “How old are you?”

“Twenty eight?”

“Please tell me you were above the legal age of consent when I took you home,” Cat groaned.

Kara tried not to laugh at where Cat’s mind had turned to. “By three whole weeks.”

“Eighteen,” Cat muttered, more to herself that Kara. “I slept with a goddamn eighteen year old.”

“I’m going to pretend that isn’t a dig on my skill in the bedroom.”

Kara only realized she’d said that out loud when she heard Cat let out a bark of laughter. “It was ten years ago. My memory isn’t clear enough for me to make a dig at that particular skill set of yours.”

Given the circumstances, Kara didn’t respond the way she might have otherwise. Instead, she swallowed her chuckle and shook her head clear. “You seem to be doing well, though. All in all.”

“All in all, yes, I am.” Cat leaned back against the chair she was sitting in and smiled fondly. “I should thank you, I suppose. For Carter. It may have been unexpected, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

Warmth spread through Kara at that. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

“Can I get you a drink?” Cat asked, standing suddenly and walking towards a little bar.

“Whatever you’re having is fine.” Kara wasn’t usually fond of alcohol, given that it had no affect on her cognitive functions, but the burn in her throat might distract her from other thoughts.

When Cat returned, she had two glasses of wine in hand and held one out. Graciously, Kara accepted it, both thankful and disappointed it wasn’t anything stronger. At least she could enjoy the flavor of wine, she reasoned.

Instead of returning to her seat, Cat sat down on the couch next to Kara. “Now what?”

Kara thought on the question, unsure if it had a satisfactory answer. “We could play a game?”

Cat shook her head in disbelief. “I’m not playing Settlers of Catan with my baby mamma.”

Kara choked a bit on her wine at the phrase, earning another smirk from Cat. “You could ask me the Supergirl questions?” she offered.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m not in the mood,” Cat exhaled. “But we are definitely setting up that interview. Supergirl, in all her years of service, has somehow managed to avoid the media quite well.”

“Traveling a lot helps,” Kara admitted.

Cat leaned her head against the back of the couch and closed her eyes. “I still need to think of what to tell Carter.”

“I assume you want our visit supervised?” Kara asked.

“There’s no way in hell you’re meeting him otherwise,” Cat said through gritted teeth. “And he has a nanny, so babysitting isn’t going to work.”

“He’s ten, does he really need a reason?” Kara asked.

“I don’t introduce him to many people,” Cat explained. “And he’s a curious boy. He’ll ask who you are.”

Kara groaned and curled her fingers in thought. “Friend? Work associate?”

“I don’t think we’re going to come up with anything better than friend.” Cat’s eyes were still closed, so she wouldn’t have been able to notice the way Kara was staring. “We’ll see if he buys it.”

“Yeah,” Kara whispered. “I guess we will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: if I wrote at this pace consistently, I could have a 100,000 word novel written in under two months. That is insane. This pace will have to slow down soon.


	5. Chapter 5

The zoo. That had been Cat’s offer for a first meeting — a public place with plenty of witnesses on the offhand something went wrong, Cat reasoned. Moreover, it was apparently one of Carter’s favorite places in the city, and so Kara was more than happy to agree to the outing. At the very least, she could bond with the kid over the monkeys, instead of struggling to come up with a subject of conversation all on her own.

They were meeting at the front gates, though Kara had arrived nearly a half an hour earlier to ensure traffic wouldn’t be an issue. It may have been a mistake, she realized, to have left so early, as nervous butterflies flew about in her stomach. But the minutes were ticking by and at any moment, Cat and Carter would appear in the crowd of people.

She had already purchased the tickets for entry. No small amount of anxiety over whether or not Cat would find that acceptable had come after that and for the briefest of moments, Kara had considered returning the tickets. Even if she had somehow been able to do so without raising any eyebrows, Kara was relatively certain that the zoo didn’t do refunds, so she was left to stand awkwardly by the gates and wait.

With the use of her super hearing, Kara could hear Cat’s voice on the far end of the parking lot, chastising Carter for squirming at the application of sunscreen. To any passerby, Kara might have looked insane, fighting a grin while standing all alone. But she could hear Carter’s muttered protests about being fine and she couldn’t help but love it.

Kara attempted not to bounce impatiently as they came into sight. She waved shyly as they approached, which earned her an amused smile from Cat and a brief nod of acknowledgement from Carter.

“Carter, sweetheart,” Cat said in a softer voice than Kara had ever heard come from her. “This is Kara Danvers. She’s a friend of mine from work.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Carter said shyly, half hiding behind Cat’s legs.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Kara was absolutely beaming, but she couldn’t help herself. Cat wore a strange expression, but she didn’t comment on the sheer mirth coming from Kara. “I already bought the tickets if you guys wanna head in.”

Carter nodded quickly and pulled his mother towards the entrance, Kara following in tow. Cat managed to slow him down enough to turn towards Kara and whisper, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s okay,” Kara said with a casual shrug. Cat’s reaction hadn’t been bitter, only surprised, which gave Kara hope for their outing. It wasn’t as if their meeting at Cat’s house hadn’t gone well, either, but for the past week, Cat avoided her quite efficiently.

“Can we see the penguins first?”

Kara looked down at Carter, all bright eyes and soft features, and felt her heart swell. “Totally!”

In the penguin habitat, Kara attempted to strike up a conversation with the little boy who had her eyes and smile. “So what’s your favorite animal, Carter?”

“The elephants,” he said quietly. “But I like the penguins a lot.”

Cat wrinkled her nose at the smell and Kara could watch her swallow a sour comment about their stink, but Carter didn’t seem to notice as he kept his eyes trained on a diving bird. Kara caught Cat’s eye after the display of distaste and Cat rolled her eyes.

“Do you have a favorite animal?” Kara asked with a lopsided grin.

Before Cat could answer, Carter piped up, not looking away from the water while he spoke. “She likes the tigers.”

Kara snorted at the thought. She would have thought Cat would’ve avoided the feline exhibits if only to avoid the pun. “Oh really?”

“Shut up,” Cat growled, but there was a teasing glint it. “Do you have a favorite?”

“Tigers are pretty cool,” Kara agreed cheekily. “But I think I prefer the otters.”

Cat smirked at her before turning her attention towards Carter, running a hand through his hair. Carter leaned slightly into the touch, a sign of his comfort with his mother. Kara briefly wondered if she would ever have that level of familiarity with the boy.

“Did you know penguins have knees?” Carter asked, touching the glass as one swam past.

“Really?” Kara knelt down so that she would be at his eye level. “That’s pretty cool.”

“They also have really good hearing,” he explained.

Kara watched as the little creatures crawled in and out of the water. “How do you know all of that?”

Carter shrugged casually and Cat placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We have watched a _lot_ of nature documentaries.”

The way she said it made Kara think many of the films had not been Cat’s idea. A little while after she’d arrived on earth, Alex had made her binge watch as many history and nature documentaries as humanly possible. It was research, she claimed, although Kara still wasn’t sure how seahorse mating habits were supposed to help her understand earth culture.

“Why don’t we move on?” Cat suggested, fed up with smell. “We can stop by again before we leave if you want.”

Carter nodded, somewhat sadly, and led Kara and Cat out of the exhibit. They wandered towards the bird exhibit, Kara occasionally asking a gentle question and receiving a softer answer from Carter. Cat always kept herself close to Carter, but she smiled whenever Kara tried to make a joke.

“Do you mind if I use the restroom?” Cat asked as they came upon the enclosure. Carter and Kara both shook their heads. “Are you alright staying her with Kara?”

“Yeah,” Carter said. Cat looked to Kara for conformation that it was alright, which she gave willingly.

“Don’t get into any trouble,” Cat murmured, kissing Carter’s head before disappearing into the side building.

Carter was quiet as he watched her go and Kara, unsure of what else to do, tried to keep them from falling into silence.

“How often do you and your mom come to the zoo?”

“Not much. Mom has to work.” He shuffled from one foot to another, a question clearly on the tip of his lips. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Kara said, forcing it to come out evenly.

“Are you dating my mom?”

“N-no,” Kara stuttered. “Wh-what makes you think that?”

Carter shrugged. “Friends don’t really come to the zoo with us.”

“Has your mom introduced you to dates before?” Kara wasn’t sure why she asked and regretted it the moment she did, although she didn’t retract the question. Even if it wasn’t her business, Kara wanted to know.

“Only once. He was nice, but it didn’t work out.”

Kara released tension in her jaw and forced herself to nod. “I’m sorry about that.”

Carter merely shrugged again and rocked on his heels. “S’okay.”

“You’re a really amazing kid, you know that?” Kara said, half to herself and half to him. “Not a lot of kids your age are so mature about that sort of stuff. I wasn’t when I was your age.”

When Kara had been ten, she had still been too young to appreciate her mother’s and father’s relationship with each other. Nor had she understood Astra’s marriage to Non, despite having attended the ceremony, although in retrospect, Kara didn’t think there had ever been much to understand. Still, Carter’s nonplussed attitude towards his mother’s romantic engagements surprised her.

“Thanks.” The shy smile that Carter supplied warmed Kara’s heart. 

“So,” Kara said with a sly smile. “How long do you think your mom’s gonna take?”

Carter’s laughter, however quiet, was equally endearing. In the end, they didn’t have to wait too long for Cat’s return. Carter quickly pulled them into the bird enclosure, pointing out his favorites each time one flew by.

“Having fun?” Cat asked after Carter rushed out in front of them a while later.

“Yeah,” Kara breathed. “I am. Thank you for letting me see him.”

Cat looked Kara over with curious eyes. Kara wondered what it was that Cat was looking for in her, whether it was a fault or virtue. “Well, I’m glad it’s been going so well.”

“So am I,” Kara said earnestly. “You raised an amazing kid.”

“I did,” Cat agree.

Kara chuckled at the easy confidence. She looked over at Carter, who was staring intensely at a bird whose name Kara would probably never learn. “Before I forget, you were right.”

“Well, that’s a given,” Cat scoffed. “But about what?”

“He didn’t exactly buy the friend thing. He sort of thought we were, um, dating.”

If Cat was surprised, she did not outwardly show it. “And what did you tell him?”

“That we weren’t?” Kara wasn’t sure why she said it like a question, but it came out as such anyhow.

Cat tsked quietly and brushed passed Kara, whispering in her ear as she went, “It might have been easier if you’d just told him we were.”

Kara was fortunate in that she didn’t have to think of a response to it, since her vocabulary dried up at the low, husky voice. Cat was already at Carter’s side, leaning down so he could explain one thing or another about a species of bird. If Kara didn’t know any better, she would have sworn that there was a smirk on Cat’s lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being shorter than most, but c'est la vie!


	6. Chapter 6

It took three weeks of begging and bargaining to finally persuade Cat to allow Alex to run a few tests on Carter to see how his biology compared to a Kryptonian’s or Human’s. Beyond Kara and Alex, the only other member of the DEO to know of Carter’s existence was J’onn, who agreed to secrecy so long as he received an annual report on whether or not Carter had any new Kryptonian-related revelations.

Another week had been spent with Cat explaining to Carter why a new doctor, Kara’s sister no less, needed to conduct a host of tests he had never undergone before. For ten, he demanded a surprisingly detailed explanation for it all. Cat’s reasoning was an inherited risk for some disease or another, which Carter had accepted with great hesitation.

Despite spending more and more time with Cat and Carter, each time learning more and more about the little boy’s interests, Kara had no plausible reason for being in the room, or even building, during the tests. As a result, Alex endured an endless strew of warnings and instructions for how she was supposed to act around Carter.

_“Don’t you dare hurt him,”_ Kara had ordered.

Alex tried her best to put up with the over protective stint, reminding Kara that she would never hurt a kid, let alone Kara’s kid. But when Kara tried to find an excuse to come to the examination, Alex’s patience broke and she threatened to have DEO agents guarding the hospital’s perimeters with kryptonite to keep Kara out.

So with Kara firmly stopped from interrupting anything, Alex was able to meet Carter in person for the first time. After listening to Kara go on and on about the boy for over a month, Alex couldn’t deny that she was excited to meet him.

And as Cat Grant ushered him into the examination room, Alex struggled to believe her eyes. He looked even more like Kara in person than he did in the photos, with the same golden-blonde locks and twinkling blue eyes.

The preliminary paperwork had already been filled out by Cat, all by hand, and delivered to Cat’s desk. It was remarkable how healthy of a childhood he’d had — no illnesses, not even a major scrape that Cat could recall, with the only thing below average being his eyesight. Even that was barely impaired, but Alex still found it amusing that Kara’s child actually needed corrective eyewear.

“Hi,” Alex tried to keep her voice bright. “My name is Alex Danvers.”

Carter was clinging to his mother’s hand and barely made eye contact with Alex. “Hi.”

“This is gonna be really fast, I promise.” Alex patted the cushioned bench as an indicator for Carter to sit. “Go ahead and take a seat.”

Cat helped Carter onto the padded seat and kissed his brow, holding onto his hand as Alex swiveled closer in her chair. Her lead-lined briefcase sat opened on a table next to the Grants.

Alex wondered if she should’ve practiced her bedside manner as she double checked her vials, making sure each was properly labeled. “Are you afraid of needles?”

“No,” Carter said, but his voice wavered slightly.

Cat squeezed his hand. “My brave boy,” she mumbled in his ear.

“Have you ever had blood drawn?” Carter shook his head. “Okay, well that’s the main thing we’re gonna do today. I just need a little bit of blood to make sure you’re all healthy.”

“Will it hurt?” he asked with a shaky voice.

“Maybe just a little,” Alex admitted. “But it’ll be over really quickly. Can you roll up your sleeves?”

He did as she asked with help from Cat and Alex, careful not too move to quickly and spook the boy, looked both over. Deciding on his left, she retrieved her first needle. “If you want to hold onto your mom’s hand, that’s fine, but try not to tense up. It’ll hurt less that way.”

Carter did as she said with exemplary bravery and Cat held his hand and gaze so that he could not see the needle go in. Alex was surprised that no previous nurse had noted on his medical history the slight difficult with which the needle went in. At least, unlike Kara’s, it was able to be punctured.

Carter’s eyes remained screwed shut until Alex removed the syringe and locked the blood samples away in a storage unit, Cat whispering words of comfort in his ear all the while. With what Alex hoped would be the worst of the tests, she continued on.

“Did that hurt?” Alex asked as she rummaged through her bag for the grip strength tester.

“No,” Carter said in a hushed voice. “I just don’t like blood.”

“There’s no shame in that,” Alex told him. She held out the small machine for Carter to take a hold of. “This next thing has no blood. Just need you to grip here and squeeze as tightly as possible.”

Alex walked him through both hands, noting down his impressive strength for a ten year old, which was most definitely beyond his age, though not inhuman. She instructed him through various other tests as well, most testing his physical capabilities and finding them above average.

With a heavy heart, Alex opened separate compartment in the lead case, pulling out a shining green vial. Kara did not know of the test, though Cat was somewhat aware, having agreed only to a diluted form of kryptonite. It’s effects on Kara had been strong, as well. Not quite to the point of her collapsing, but near enough.

“Carter, I just need you to hold this,” Alex explained simply. “Think you can do that?”

Carter nodded, clearly confused by the request, and held out his hands. Alex passed it over, prepared to catch it as she’d done with Kara. Kara had dropped it very quickly once she’d been handed it, but Carter kept a firm grip.

“How do you feel?” Alex asked.

The boy shrugged impassively, but after a little longer of holding it, his face started to go pale. “I feel kinda queasy.”

Alex quickly took the vial from him and put it back in the lead container. “Okay, Carter, we’re all done,” Alex said with a reassuring smile. “I just need to talk to your mom for a little bit outside.”

She glanced over at Cat who was still holding onto Carter’s hand, watching them with careful eyes. When Alex spoke, a brief flash of surprise passed over her face, but she smiled gently at Carter quickly after. “We’ll be right back, sweetheart.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked, voice trembling despite how brave he’d been during the tests.

Alex was quick to reassure him. “Everything’s fine. I just need her to sign a few forms.”r

He nodded warily and after one brief kiss, Cat followed Alex into the hallway. “Is everything alight?” Cat asked the moment the door shut. “Should I be worried?”

“I don’t think so, but I will tell you more when the tests come back,” Alex said slowly, carefully phrasing each word. “But his reaction to the diluted kryptonite indicates that something might come up.”

“Like what?”

Alex didn’t want to send the woman into a panic, no matter how brave of a face she wore, so she kept things vague. “If I had to guess, watered-down versions of Kara’s. Above average strength and speed, faster healing. But if he hasn’t shown any indication of the more extreme powers like heat vision or flight, then I doubt any tests will reveal them.”

“How long will it take for the tests to return?” Cat demanded.

“Within a few days,” Alex reassured her. “But there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

Kara would kill her if she knew that Alex was bringing up such a sensitive subject, but it was important. Cat raised an eyebrow expectantly and Alex swallowed.

“Has Kara told you anything about her family?”

“I’ve heard a great deal about you, Agent Scully,” Cat drawled, but Alex shook her head.

“I don’t mean me, I mean her birth family.” Cat’s knitted eyebrows and pursed lips indicated that Kara had, in fact, said nothing about Alura or Zor-El. “Look, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I think you need to know. Kara lost her family, her whole family, when she was just a little older than Carter. And I think she always assumed she wasn’t going to have any kids, so she internalized the concept of being the last.”

During their late teenage years, Alex asked once or twice what Kara would name her future children or whether she preferred boys or girl. Each time, Kara shrugged her off, and so Alex had put the pieces together quickly. Krypton was gone, with only Kal-El and Kara Zor-El to carry on its legacy, but neither had expected children. Alex was certain that Kara had internalized the idea of Krypton’s memory fading with her.

“Carter means a lot to her,” Alex continued, trying not to sound as emotional as she felt. “She doesn’t expect him to carry on the torch of her family or anything, but I think the knowledge that Carter exists, that he had a bit of her and her family, matters more than I could possibly explain. Just let her be there for him. Please?”

Cat’s gaze was sympathetic as responded. “I have no intention of barring her from his life.”

“Good.” From what Alex could see, there was no sign of a lie, and if Cat wanted to keep Kara from Carter, she could have easily done so already. Still, Alex worried for her sister. “If that ever changes, you better have a damn good reason.”

To Alex’s surprise, Cat crossed her arms and smirked. Kara had told her how imposing Cat Grant could be could be and while Alex hadn’t doubted it, it was another thing to it in person. “So long as she keeps him out of danger, I don’t think there will be any problems, Agent.Now, my son is waiting for me, so unless there’s something else?”

“That’s it,” Alex said, leading them back towards the door.

When they reentered the room, Carter immediately bounded to Cat’s side. “Can we get dinner?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Cat murmured fondly. “Anything you want.”

“Can we get Chinese?” Carter asked. “And invite Kara over?”

Alex’s heart swelled a bit. “Of course,” Cat responded, looking up at Alex knowingly.

Carter looked up shyly at Alex. “Would you like to come to, Doctor Danvers?”

“I’d love to, but I’m afraid I have to work tonight.” It was only half true. J’onn wanted to go over Carter’s tests with her and she needed to start the blood work, but mainly, Alex knew how worried Kara’d been over the whole examination and would likely want some time alone with the Grants. “Next time, buddy. And it’s Alex.”

“Alex,” he repeated with a shy smile.

* * *

 

An hour later, back in the comfort of her own home, Cat watched as Kara kept eyeing the small mark on Carter’s skin from the needle. It was nothing, especially compared to the bruising Cat endured every time she had blood drawn.

Cat cleared the table while the two of them continued to talk. Carter didn’t seem to notice the distraction in Kara’s voice as he told her all about his history lesson from school that day. As Cat leaned over to take the plate from Kara’s spot, she whispered into the woman’s ear, “Careful not to stare too hard, Danvers.”

A blush crept across Kara’s cheeks, but Cat walked away with the dishes before she could come up with a response. From the kitchen, she could hear Kara trying to find a good spot of interruption in Carter’s story.

“That’s super cool.” Kara’s voice drifted towards her. “But hang on buddy. I wanna help your mom with the dishes. That okay?”

“Should I help?” he asked, always her sweet boy.

“Nah, I got this. You go pick out a movie.”

She heard a shuffle of commotion from the dining room as Carter ran off towards their entertainment room and Kara came to join her in the kitchen.

“So everything went okay?” Kara asked quietly, careful not to let Carter hear.

“Everything went fine. Your sister will call back with the results,” Cat said simply.

She had grown used to Kara’s presence over the course of the past few weeks. The girl’s — _woman’s_ she corrected herself — overwhelming optimism and sheer joy was endearing, if annoying, and Cat had grown nearly as attached as Carter. After the zoo it had been bowling and then an arcade, until finally Cat felt comfortable letting Kara into her home with Carter. She’d even let the two of them stay in the penthouse alone when she attended a charity event, Carter’s nanny not being able to spend the night.

Kara and Cat had even begun conversations on how to tell Carter about his relation to Kara. It felt both strange and unfair to keep the knowledge from him and to wait much longer would only make it more difficult. Cat’s one request was to wait until after the tests, so that when he had questions about how his Kryptonian DNA affected him, they could have answers.

“He didn’t get hurt, though?” Kara clarified.

“He did not get hurt.” Cat forced herself to not roll her eyes. After all, she’d been equally worried going into the examination. “But I do want to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Kara asked. She’d taken over the duty of rinsing off dishes and handing them to Cat to load in the dishwasher, but even the task couldn’t keep her from fiddling nervously.

Cat stayed Kara’s hand by gripping her wrists. Kara looked down at her with wide and impossibly blue eyes at the contact. “At some point, once we’ve told Carter, I want you to tell him about your culture. Wherever you come from, whoever your parents were. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but he has the right to know. It is his heritage, too.”

Glistening eyes worried Cat for a moment, but Kara pulled her into a tight hug, the first they’d shared. “Thank you.”

Cat tried to huff in indifference, but she relaxed into the touch. “Just be aware I expect you to deal with his teenage years.”

Kara laughed loudly at that. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“I had to put up with his baby years all on my own,” Cat reminded her. “I think it is very fair.” 

“But the baby years were cute,” Kara pointed out. She’d since pulled back from Cat, standing somewhat awkwardly to the side, but the goofy smile on her face.

“Mom! Kara!” Carter shouted from the entertainment room. “Come on!”

“The boy calls,” Cat whispered.

Kara nodded, but she did not tear her eyes from Cat, nor did she move at first. “So he does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is the last chapter. Tomorrow is me writing stuff I can't write. Oh god, I'm not ready.


	7. Chapter 7

 

Cat was staring at her computer screen, reading the same few words over and over, unsure how she needed to fix it. Carter was at a friend’s for the evening and so Cat had taken it upon herself to finish an article on Supergirl’s latest heroics, although none of it was coming out as she’d hoped. Two hundred saved from a freezing aquatic death and yet Cat wasn’t satisfied with any of what she was writing.

A knock on her balcony door spared her from trying to finish it on her own. Kara had agreed to come over and read it after her nightly patrol to correct any factual mistakes, although at the rate Cat was writing, the article wouldn’t be done on time.

“Hi,” Kara said, hair still windswept. “Hope you mind I’m early?”

“Not at all,” Cat sighed. “Why don’t you get changed first?”

Given the size of Cat’s home, she’d set up a spare room for Kara. It went unused the overwhelming majority of the time, but if she should ever be late to one of her visits with Carter and still in Supergirl mode, Cat wanted her to have some clothes lying about.

Kara nodded and slipped off in the direction, leaving Cat alone once more with her work. “Fuck,” she growled.

“Everything okay?”

It was always a surprise, how quickly Kara could reappear, as herself once more rather than Supergirl. She emerged wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a t-shirt from college. Cat forced herself to look back down at her laptop, waving Kara over impatiently.

“Come read this,” Cat ordered, handing her the computer. “I don’t have an ending yet, but the rest is there.”

Kara looked it over and Cat sat to the side, watching her with great interest. Her face was mainly impassive, although there were a few brief clicks on the keyboard, which Cat normally would have protested. Cat glanced over her shoulder to notice it was simply a change to a number and not her actual writing.

“You’re an amazing writer,” Kara said once she’d finished. “Except I wasn’t thinking about that.”

She was pointing to a line in which Cat had speculated about what the hero might have been thinking while saving the ship’s passengers from drowning. _Whether our hero thinks of how the world will admire her for her latest feat or of the children who might have lost their parents without her interference, I cannot say_. She then went on discuss whether or not a hero’s motivations mattered, but that didn’t seem to be the part Kara was taking issue with.

“Well then, what were you thinking about?” Cat asked.

“I wasn’t, for the first part. It was mainly just reacting, but once things started to slow down and most everyone was safe, I thought about how many fish were going to die from the pollution.”

Cat laughed in genuine surprise. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” Kara said with a grin. “I felt bad for the little things.”

Cat plucked the laptop from Kara’s lap and placed it on the coffee table. “And not the poor people who were in danger of drowning?”

“They were already safe by the time my brain slowed down enough to think.” Kara looked down at the closed computer. “Are you sure you don’t want to work on that?”

“I need a five minute break,” Cat sighed. “It’s been a long day.”

Kara nodded in understanding and turned her attention to the photos on the wall, something she was prone to do whenever she was in the Grant household. Like always, her eyes trailed to a photo of a baby Carter in his crib.

“Do you know how his sleepover’s going?” Kara asked.

“He hasn’t called asking for me to pick him up, so I’d say rather well.” The last sleepover he’d gone on ended in disaster, and Cat had been just as nervous to send him out again. But it was with twins from his school who he’d grown close to and Cat had met their parents several times.

“Good.”

Kara was still looking at the photos of a younger Carter. Cat rolled her eyes at the younger woman and stood, beckoning for her to follow. “Come. I have a gift for you.”

Kara protested the idea of receiving a gift, but when Cat handed her a small, elegant picture frame with a photo of Carter and Kara together, they died quickly. “Oh.”

“I wanted you to have a photo of your own,” Cat explained quickly.

“We made a really beautiful kid,” Kara whispered, her fingers ghosting over the glass. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Kara bit her bottom lip, clearly hesitating on some sort of question. Cat was half tempted to bully Kara into asking it, but like Carter, if she pushed too hard, it would disappear and Cat would never come to know it.

“Do you really not remember our night together?” Kara finally asked, her voice so soft it would’ve been easy to pretend she didn’t hear it.

Cat was many things, but she was not a coward, and so she took a deep sigh and tilted Kara’s head towards her. “Do I remember it in perfect clarity? No. It was over ten years ago and despite my brilliant mind, it has its faults. But I remember thinking you were beautiful and sweet, and yes, I recall it being one of my more pleasurable nights.”

“Well thanks,” Kara said with a small laugh.

“Don’t tell me you remember it perfectly?” Cat hoped she didn’t sound too interested in the answer.

“Not perfectly, but I remember thinking you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” Kara admitted, stubbornly not making eye contact with Cat.

“And now?” Cat teased.

“It’s still true.”

Cat forgot to breath for a brief moment. The fact that such a beautiful, remarkable, and wholly innocent woman could not only be her child’s other parent, but also still attracted to her shocked Cat.

“Cat, I-I want you to know, I care for you. Not just because your Carter’s mother, but for you. You’re,” Kara hesitated and Cat bit her tongue in impatience, “You’re important to me.”

“Kara,” Cat breathed. Kara looked so vulnerable, so beautiful, and so young.

Without thinking, Cat crashed into Kara, roughly tangling a hand in Kara’s hair and tilted her head to capture her lips. For a terrifying moment, Kara tensed and Cat almost pulled away with an apology, but then Kara’s hands were roaming across Cat’s back, gripping the fabric of her blouse tightly, and Cat wouldn’t dare to break the contact. 

“Are you sure?” Kara gasped somewhere between kisses.

So long as Cat’s lips were on Kara’s, her mind was clouded, and so she pulled back to answer properly. A small, petulant pout appeared from Kara, and Cat her thumb over Kara’s lips to erase it. “I am. Are you?”

“Yes,” Kara exhaled, pulling Cat close once more.

Cat moaned as one of Kara’s hands slipped between them to palm Cat’s breast, tilting her head back slightly at the sensation. Kara took advantage of Cat’s new position and moved her lip’s attention to the exposed neck, nipping the pale, soft skin lightly.

“Bedroom,” Cat ordered, her hazy mind unable to come up with a more detailed plan for the evening. “Now.”

“So fast?” Kara teased, her eyes twinkling brightly.

“Shut up,” Cat growled, capturing Kara’s bottom lip between her teeth. Much to her delight, Kara shivered with pleasure. “If you don’t want to—”

Kara’s response was to pick Cat up and carry her bridal style into the bedroom, ignoring Cat’s little scream of surprise and her groan of frustration at getting thrown onto the bed. Cat was going to protest the rough treatment, for her furniture’s sake, but Kara was standing at the end of the bed and stripping off her shirt. Any qualm she might have had about her furniture’s safety died before she could vocalize it.

Cat stared in appreciation at the defined muscles, which had perviously been hid under fabric. Certainly, when she’d had Kara in her bed all those years ago, those hadn’t been so well developed. She was almost disappointed when Kara crawled onto the mattress, thus hindering her view of the toned stomach and arms.

Yet as Kara brought their lips back together and Cat was able to feel the Kara’s strength above her, the lack of a view was made up for. She attempted to shrug off her own blouse, but Kara was quicker and tore the fabric off, spraying buttons across the floor. The bra went with it, claps ruined by Kara’s force.

Kara’s silent apology was to kiss down the valley between Cat’s breasts slowly, stopping to her tongue over one nipple and then the other. A whimper escaped from Cat. “Fuck, Kara.”

A hum of contentment vibrated against Cat’s sternum, traveling ever lower with a wet tongue and desperate, greedy fingers. Cat could smell her own arousal, but she was too lost in the sensation of Kara’s fingers slipping between Cat’s legs to dwell on it. They trailed over the fabric of Cat’s underwear twice, slow and deliberate.

“Off,” Cat moaned. Kara quickly stripped her of the garments, but before she could continue her ministrations, Cat stopped her. “The skirt, too.”

With a sheepish smile, Kara pulled off the bunched up and wrinkled skirt, leaving Cat completely exposed. In the process, Kara rid herself of her own jeans. Cat admired the beautiful form before her — Kara’s bra and underwear where a mismatched pair of polka dots and penguins, whereas Cat’s had been black and lace consistently, and while Cat thought it incredibly unfair that Kara remained partially clothed, the sight was utterly adorable.

“You are beautiful,” Cat whispered earnestly, pulling Kara close for a proper kiss on the lips.

“So are you.”

She set about proving it once more, her hand dipping between Cat’s thighs and tracing the wetness with a gentleness Cat couldn’t help but resent. Cat’s hips bucked in an attempt for firmer contact, but Kara pulled her hand away entirely. Cat was not entirely dissatisfied, not when Kara’s head disappeared down the length of her body and settled between Cat’s legs.

Cat wrapped one hand in Kara’s hair, pressing her closer to her center, while the other played with her own breasts. She could barely process the way Kara’s tongue dragged across her clit or the way her lips wrapped around it, sucking lightly. The bottle of lube in her nightstand drawer went unused as Kara slipped in two fingers.

Something between a moan and a yelp escaped from Cat as she thrashed wildly against Kara’s hand. The tension in her body grew until she was arching off the bed, almost vibrating in her arousal. When Kara bit down against the crook of her thigh, fingers curling upwards into just the right spot, Cat came undone violently.

Kara held her until she was done shaking and her mind, while cloudy, returned to functionality. She rested her head against Cat’s stomach, dropping a kiss occasionally, as she waited.

“Well, that was something,” Cat said. She was playing aimlessly with strands of long, blonde hair.

Kara beamed up at her. “Yeah?”

Cat hummed happily, raking her nails against Kara’s scalp. “I think it’s you’re turn.”

“I can wait,” Kara said simply, crawling up so she could kiss Cat gently on the lips. “You look exhausted.”

“Presumptuous, aren’t we?” Cat teased. A flash of panic crossed Kara’s face, but Cat kissed it away quickly. “Are you sure you can wait until next time?”

“I’m sure,” Kara whispered. “Not that there has to be a next time.”

Cat laughed as she kissed Kara’s jaw tenderly. “Of course there will be a next time. Although tomorrow morning we’ll need to finish the article first.”

“Morning?” Kara bit her bottom lip in hope. “That means I get to spend the night?”

“Of course you do,” Cat murmured against Kara’s skin. “And hopefully you’ll spend a few more nights over in the future.”

“Will Carter be okay with this?”

Cat laughed. “He has been asking me ever since the zoo why I keep lying to him about us being together. I think he’ll be fine.”

Kara’s response was to kiss her again, smiling happily into the kiss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to be self deprecating about the ending, but I know it's kinda just.. stopping. Carter learning the truth would take way too long and I'd want to follow it up with more stuff, which I don't have the time to do, so instead I tried smut. Which, holy shit, is awkward and hard to write, so sorry about that.
> 
> Assume Carter found out, was kinda upset about getting lied to for a while, then forgives them because he is small and cute and sweet. Then a few years later, puberty comes and suddenly the child can fly.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite the assery with which it was said, radak was right, so here's a better ending.

Hidden from the city below by a sea of grayish clouds and the night’s inky darkness, Carter hovered, almost perfectly still, in crisp air. He was too far up to hear the din of activity of below, thus adding to the scene of serenity. Stars, shimmering proudly in the sky, looked down on him — their beauty nearly incomprehensible.

It was a ghost of a star, though, that captured his attention. Though the light still reached his eyes, the sun had long since died, taking an entire culture with it. A culture he was descended from, but did not belong to. Carter had been taught of Rao’s significance and divinity, and how even the divine could die. Like Kal-El, the star and its planets were nothing more than an inherited memory to Carter, but he felt some attachment to it, nonetheless.

One day, the light of Rao would disappear completely from the universe, no longer visible to earth’s inhabitants. But that day belonged to the distant future, to a day long after Carter’s eventual death. During his life, he would live under the light of Rao. Not next to it, as the House of El once had, but it was enough.

If it was not for Rao, Carter’s life never would have come into being. He would never have known the ability of flight, nor the strength and speed that enabled acts of bravery, which would be otherwise impossible. True, he was too young to accompany Kara on her patrols or missions, but one day he would dawn the crest of the House of El and prove himself worthy of their legacy. It was the legacy of Alura In-Ze and Zor-El, of Jor-El and Seyg-El, and of all those who had come before.

It was under the light of Rao that Kara had given him a Kryptonian name. Erok-El, after the founder of the House of El. It came only after much begging from Carter’s part, but she had bestowed it to him with a smile. A symbol, she’d said, that he was the second founder of sorts. The first of the Kryptonians to carry human blood within their veins, but not the last. Kal-El’s children had followed, each looking unto Carter as an example.

Nearing the age of majority and each year growing in powers and strength, Carter attempted to prove himself worthy of their admiration. It did not matter that his bones could break with enough pressure or that his skin knew the pain of cutting open. It was not invulnerability that made him a son of Krypton.

Taking in a final look at Rao for the night, Carter tore himself away from the sky. If he spent too long gazing up at the home of his ancestors, he would forget that he was a child of Earth, too. More so, even, for it was on Earth that he was raised and it had become home to both his mothers, not just Cat.

On the balcony of his home, the sounds of human life once more greeted his ears, sharper and clearer than they’d been in his childhood. He could hear the sighs and heartbeats of the city, each comforting in their own right. The lights of the city, while lacking the regal majesty of the stars, held their own elegance. They were a testament to humanity’s achievements — that even in the darkest of nights, humans were capable of creating their own light. It warmed Carter’s hear to think that even on the day where Kara’s and Kal-El’s blood thinned to the point of powerlessness, hope would persist.

The glass door slid open and Carter turned to greet his mother, a soft, thoughtful smile on his lips.

“You coming in?”

Carter did not turn to look at the city once more. It would be there in the morning and the morning after that, under the protection of himself and his mothers and even the city’s own people.

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I really enjoyed writing it :)


End file.
